Enough
by AnnaRinzler
Summary: A series of ficlets revolving around the word "enough". Slight Lin x Amon, a little Lin x Tenzin. Staying as true to the cartoon as possible, though some is speculation.
1. Leap

**Leap**

Standing on the back of Tenzin's sky bison, wind whistling in her ears, Lin knew they could do it. The air tossed her hair about and the adrenaline pounding in her veins fed her lies, happy lies charged with the thrill of their escape only minutes before. They'd be fine. They'd—

"_Faster, Oogi!"_

She heard the note of urgency in Tenzin's voice and it gave her pause as she squinted out at the air ships. The Equalists were speeding up. But surely, she thought, her rag-tag team could still make it. Lin was sure of herself as she dodged the first net the Equalists threw at them, her metal whip tearing it into shreds. She was sure of herself until the last glance at the kids who had fought so bravely before.

Children. They were children. And now they stared at her, wide-eyed and helpless, silently looking to her for the solution. Lin was sure that she would stay with them,that she would not have to sacrifice herself, until she turned to look back.

The terror in their eyes is enough to make her go.

**Author's Note: So I am doing a series of ficlets that will be mostly about Lin and Amon. Slight Lin x Amon but nothing too smutty, unless people beg me for it, I suppose. Constructive criticism and comments are always welcome!**


	2. Down

**Down**

To the untrained eye, Lin Beifong is defiant to the last. She is, even bound, the picture of a formidable opponent. Her body armor and injuries attest that she fought hard and viciously, with everything that she had. Her face, even in the rain, is obviously free from tears. Her eyes, those _green_ eyes, pale like sea glass, are not rimmed with red.

It irritates him that she is not visibly shaken. To his men she is a vicious creature of myth, the stuff of legend. They bring her to her knees and unconsciously back away from the wild, feral thing at their feet. Amon steps forward. She glares up at him with her beautiful eyes and he wants her to know she is beaten. But she does. He wanted some sign, tears maybe, or perhaps shaking. But Amon is satisfied with what he sees. Looking down at her, he at once feels equal parts loathing and admiration. The only thing that gives Lin's hopelessness away is the dejected slump in her shoulders.


	3. Iron

**Iron**

Every time Amon summons her, as he does today, their routine is the same. Three guards enter her cell, cuff her, and bring Lin to one of his rooms. The Equalists warily take off her restraints and make a break for it as soon as Amon dismisses them. Being the sick bastard that he is, he typically dismisses them when she is standing too many feet away from a chair to reach it without falling. Today he is at her side, holding her against him like she weighs nothing, and helps her into a chair when her injured ribs and leg scream in protest.

Amon pours tea (only for her) and Lin leaves it untouched, as usual. Usually she doesn't listen much and fades in and out of the one-sided conversation. Amon, with his deep, steady voice, talks to her about the Equalist movement. Lin doesn't bother arguing with him and lets herself be hypnotized by the steam rising out of her teacup and his droning lecture. This day is very nearly like the handful of other times he has summoned her. And then it isn't. Lin fades back into the conversation and a snatch of it registers in her brain.

"…and without your bending, Lin"—

"I am _nothing," _she interrupts, a familiar scowl on her face.

He slowly rises out of the chair across from Lin and towers over her.

"_Nothing_?" Amon asks, his tone patronizing, "So all of the non-bending citizens of the world are _nothing _to you?"

"I had an ability and you took it away. You're"—

"I am the _solution_ to the inequality non-benders face every day."

Amon kneels beside her and yanks her chair around, forcing her to face him even as she backed away as far as she possibly could. When he takes her face in one rough, calloused hand it is all she could do to keep from crying out. Amon pulls her closer to him, so close that she can almost rest her forehead against his mask.

"You look me in the eyes and tell me I'm _nothing, _Lin Beifong,_" _Amon hisses, his voice low and deadly, "Though I hold you prisoner and have your precious city at its knees."

She couldn't breathe. The touch was electric. His hand was wrapped around her jaw and held her in place like it was nothing. Lin felt…something. It was mixed in with all the hate and repulsion, but she couldn't look away from his piercing eyes.

"You're nothing to _me_," she whispers fiercely.

At the moment she thinks her jaw will break from his tightening grip he shoves her away and calls for the guards, who burst in like they think Amon is under attack.


	4. Hint

**Hint**

The Lieutenant did not have to be a mind-reader to see the resignation in Chief Beifong as Amon walked behind her. While he was relieved to have such a volatile enemy captured, he could still appreciate the poignancy of the moment. The woman in front of him, misguided though she might be, was prepared to give up something she obviously held dear to support her cause. It was a sacrifice that the Equalists could only parallel by sacrificing their lives for Amon's cause.

He folded his arms and watched the equalizing and grew wary. There was something about this woman that was different. Amon had talked about her often enough. She was the Chief of Police. He had reason to discuss Beifong. However, the Lieutenant could see no reason for what happened next. He could brush off the "deal" Amon offered her; their leader would have surely taken her bending anyway, even if she'd kissed his hand and pledged him her undying loyalty. The woman tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and Amon brushed the hair off of her neck before placing a gentle hand at her throat. The Lieutenant did not like the half-second pause before Amon raised his thumb to her forehead, when usually he went about it almost gleefully, jumping at his victims and prolonging their agony as he took away their bending.

The equalizing was over in a heartbeat and the Lieutenant felt something within him lurch with suspicion. When Beifong fell to the ground and did not move again the Lieutenant's suspicion quietly burned out.

He felt it rekindle when Amon carried Lin to the holding bay himself.


	5. Mask

**Mask**

Hiroshi Sato kept domesticated peacocksparrows in cages around his home. The birds would trill silly, cheerful tunes and occasionally fluff their green and blue plumage with pride. Amon had been in Sato's house many times and had found the animals ridiculous. But the inventor of the Satomobile had always seemed mystified with the ornate birds. He fretted if they became ill or seemed "depressed" or wouldn't eat. To Amon, Sato's fascination with the caged animals had always seemed pathetic and a little sick.

A week after he had captured Lin Beifong, Amon wasn't so sure. He stood silently outside of her cell and stared in through the iron bars. She was sitting in the middle of her cot, her knees drawn to her chest. A few strands of unkempt hair fell in her face and she looked back out at him, her expression blank. The words of the cook echoed in Amon's mind. _"Some rice today...small bite of cabbage maybe. She picked the roll to pieces. Don't think she ate any of it." _

Without her armor and without her bending Lin Beifong seemed small. Diminished. The sharp angles of her jaw had risen into prominence with lack of food and her eyes were large in her face. She was more beautiful than ever.

He was afraid she had gone mad.

To hear some of them weep one would have thought that Amon had killed their children, not taken away their ability to manipulate an element. Some cursed him as he walked past and some flew into fits of rage. Not Lin. She had been quiet, so very quiet, and stared off into space for most of the day. He told himself that he only cared to make sure she would be fit as a bargaining chip, that he was only standing here now, curling his fingers around the bars of her cage and looking in, because she was a valuable prisoner. Lin blinked at him and gave him her back, pulling the blanket over herself slowly enough for him to see the scowl blossoming on her face. His heart quickened with relief and he walked away.


	6. Heat

**Heat**

When he shows up at the doctor's door, dripping wet, the wrinkled old woman acts as though the burden in his arms does not phase her. The masked man glides into Miki's building without a word and she motions for him to move from the lobby into the private examination room. The injured woman he arranges gently on the gurney is the former Chief of Police, from the looks of her. Miki is not an Equalist. Not at her age. But she isn't especially fond of the benders, and Amon pays her handsomely.

Now he hovers at her elbow while she begins her initial inspection, hands dangling uselessly at his side, shoulders sagging. This is not the Amon she is used to seeing, used to hearing on the radio. She takes note of Lin Beifong's pulse and glances at him out of the corner of her eye.

"She has a cut on her leg and several on her arms. They may be infected."

"We'll see," Miki replies matter-of-factly, glancing down at Beifong's leg with a curt nod of acknowledgement before touching the unconscious woman's forehead, "She does have a high fever."

Lin shivers and Amon shifts uneasily on his feet.

"A poultice for the leg, sterilization, bandages, willow bark tea, bed rest."

"I see."

He folds his arms across his chest and continues to stare at her. Miki turns away, busies herself with taking Beifong's pulse, and rolls her eyes. She wracks her brain for the words he wants to hear so she could get her patient a bit of privacy. Miki doesn't know what he wants with this one, this woman who is surely a _former_ bender. She doesn't know why Beifong so special, or at least interesting enough for him to be nervously plucking at the hem of his tunic the way he is. Normally he brings his men in, pays and waits, or pays and leaves.

"This woman is injured, not dying. Ordinary injuries, ordinary fever."

She lets the words hang in the air. After a moment he walks out and _finally _takes a seat in the lobby.


End file.
